Arrest announced in jogger's killing
November 7, 2026 · 1:40 p.m. Eastern
New York City police detectives have arrested a 27-year-old former police recruit and city school aide in connection with the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Katie Suarez, who was ambushed on a Brooklyn pedestrian greenway while training for the New York City Marathon.
Authorities identified the suspect as Sayed Mohassib of Brooklyn. Mohassib was taken into custody following an intensive multi-agency investigation that involved canvassing security camera feeds, retracing transit routes, and searching a landfill in New Jersey for discarded physical evidence.
He has been formally charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with physical evidence. Suarez succumbed to severe neck wounds at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn days after being placed on mechanical life support, sparking widespread grief and heightened safety concerns among runners across the city.
Suspect's background and employment
Law enforcement records and Department of Education statements revealed that Mohassib briefly joined the New York City Police Department as a recruit officer before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. Military officials subsequently granted him a discharge reportedly tied to psychological concerns, an outcome that disqualified him from returning to NYPD ranks.
Following his military discharge, Mohassib secured employment with the New York City Department of Education as a substitute school aide. At the time of his arrest, he was assigned to P.S. 200, the Benson School, an elementary school located in Bath Beach less than a mile from the crime scene.
Department of Education officials confirmed on Saturday that Mohassib has been immediately suspended without pay and barred from all school property pending criminal adjudication. Investigators said preliminary interviews suggest the attack was random, with no known prior relationship between Suarez and the suspect.
The October 30 ambush on Shore Parkway
The violent attack occurred at approximately 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 30, along the Shore Parkway Greenway near Bay 17th Street and Shore Road in Bath Beach. Suarez was completing an evening training run in preparation for Sunday’s 26.2-mile marathon when an assailant approached from behind and slashed her repeatedly across the throat and neck.
A passerby discovered Suarez lying heavily bleeding on the paved pathway and placed an emergency call to 911. Paramedics rushed her to the trauma unit at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn in critical condition, where surgeons attempted multiple emergency interventions before her condition deteriorated irreparably.
Dozens of fellow runners held a memorial vigil along the greenway earlier this week, leaving flowers, running bibs, and hand-painted signs calling for justice and round-the-clock lighting along the shoreline corridor.
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